Want Good HR Reps and Recruiters? Look for Media Experience.

Someone sent us this email a few days ago, and while it’s a little sporadic and obviously inspired by recent hiring frustrations, it makes some decent points.

When it comes to hiring recruiters and HR pros:

Teamwork mentality is key (media people have this – in a newsroom the writers, designers, photographers, editors, etc. must all work together)

Conflict resolution is key (media people deal with a lot of angry/irked people; nothing compared to people with experience in customer service, but still ...)

Communication is key (both written and spoken – different but equally important skills)

Many people are bad at communicating (picking on HR people and recruiters is a little unfair and generalized, but in my experience bad communicators can be found anywhere and everywhere)

Of course, having a media background myself, I have to admit that I might be biased. So maybe they aren’t decent points. You’ll just have to be the judge.

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I was reviewing the recent article about former athletes making good recruiters and I must applaud the way in which it was written. However, being a 20+ broadcasting industry professional and someone who’s been in that “hiring” position, I know there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on HR departments to be perfect!

I just wanted to add that the other “sector” that’s being under-utilized is the media industry (broadcast, print, etc.). Athletes may have a great sense of “team-concept,” but that doesn’t always translate into knowing how to communicate. Furthermore, I’ve been contacted by numerous HR reps and recruiters and they simply don’t know how to communicate with their job candidates and have zero people skills. How can I apply for an executive position when the HR person has no idea about what I do or what any of my résumé means in the marketplace?

Last month, I was contacted by a freelance writer who was working on an article for CareerBuilder and wanted to know why I wouldn’t consider working for a medium to large company and oversee their communications department. I simply said today’s HR personnel are quite narrow-minded about their candidates and can’t think outside the box. That’s why I smiled after reading the article about athletes making good recruiters. In theory, great HR move … however, if the job candidate has no background in finance, marketing, or sales, HR departments will turn the other way.

In my opinion, someone should write an article about what makes the perfect HR recruiter or communications vice president. How about someone from the media industry? Someone who knows how to communicate and knows how to deal with difficult people. In my opinion, it’s quite amusing that most recruiters have poor communication and people skills! I’ve witnessed plenty in my career, which includes HR personnel not calling references about “sketchy” candidates along with not even knowing anything about the industry with which they’ve been contracted to conduct an employee search. I was flown to another city [all expenses paid], and left in an empty conference room for two hours as the HR woman forgot I was waiting to see the company vice president.